I actually think this article misses the point of submission grappling or MMA (social dominance etc), but even so its worth remembering ground-fighting isn’t the best tactic in a knife fight …”We must remember, virtually everyone carried a dagger back then and often you might be facing multiple opponents, or be encumbered by armor. The last thing you wanted to do is grapple while laying prone where your eyes can be gouged, your groin ripped, and the adversary maim you by biting � you know, all the things that occur in life and death combat situations but are omitted and forbidden in the controlled conditions of wrestling sports and MMA. Go figure.” http://www.thearma.org/essays/WheresAlltheGroundFighting.html?fbclid=IwAR1RzYLgwpGR86X3tcIVf4sc6sRiRF9nz_5Zz2yn8S7899DoFTq8__4kC_g#.XHp41FP7SS5

It’s not often you come across an accomplished practitioner of traditional Chinese martial arts who is also an equally high level sanshou coach. Plenty of evidence for both on this clip. Just wish I could understand the interview or find more about him on the internet. “Master Meijian Gao began learning various Chinese martial arts from 1970 to 1978. From 1978 to 1982, he attended the famous Beijing Sports University. In 1979 he was selected to be among the very few in China to be taught and to compete in the full-contact fighting sport of Sanshou.Master Gao became the All-China national champion in fighting in 1981. The following year saw him as a champion competitor and coach for the Shandong Sports College. He began full-time coaching in 1988, and he served as the official instructor for the China Military Police. He led the first sanshou team to compete in Japan where he also taught. He coached the Chinese team in the 1992 Asian Games. In 1996 he was selected to become an ambassador-research scholar in Chinese kickboxing for the People’s Republic of China. He taught the French Sanshou national team in 2000. Master Gao currently serves as the vice-director of Technical Committee and Sparring & Combat Technical Committee of the World Fighting Martial Arts Federation.”

If you thought Italian knife fighting had similarities with Silat, wait till you see Pizzica Scherma: According to the Italian Folk Magic blog: “The pizzica scherma is a form of folk dancing in which two men mime a duel with swords either with knives or, more frequently, their fingers. Traditionally associated with the criminal underground, it is said that the dance is only taught to initiates who are presented by a godfather …”

When a Japanese forward turned to the pitch and bowed at half time, it occurred to me there’s a strong chance that at least some of Japanese rugby team who played so well against England yesterday have a martial arts background. So far, this FT article about Eddie Jones is all I could turn up, but chances are a fair few of his previous team are judo black belts given the sport’s central position in the Japanese school curriculum…. “Jones even found a way to address calls for a “Japanese” style of rugby, bringing mixed martial arts expert Tsuyoshi Kohsaka into his training camps. Japan’s players learned to stay low in contact, making it hard for burlier opponents to bring their size to bear.” https://www.ft.com/content/55c2a5f6-b2e3-11e5-8358-9a82b43f6b2f

“Still, many folks raise concerns that when a traditional martial art becomes a sport it loses its traditional values and effectiveness. Some argue that training for competition builds bad habits. Others say that focusing on winning corrupts the spirit and throws away the heritage of the art. All of these arguments can hold true, if one only practices the sport aspect and allows competition to fully replace traditional training. When conducting traditional practice we aspire to stay pure and true to the traditional teachings. Even better if one can stay true to these teachings even when participating in Sport Silat.”

“In their wildest fantasies, the people who created the first Ultimate Fighting Championship couldn’t have imagined what would go down 25 years to the weekend later. UFC Denver was headlined by a bout between Mexico’s Yair Rodriguez and South Korea’s Chan Sung Jung that was everything you could have imagined the sport evolving into, a high-level battle of skill and will. But that in and of itself was before one of the craziest finishes ever seen in the history of MMA. After battling for nearly 25 bloody and bruising minutes in the featherweight main event, the duo engaged in one final rush. And Rodriguez ducked The Korean Zombie’s flurry and knocked him cold with a ridiculous counter elbow, sending Jung face-first to the mat just before the horn sounded. With that, a Fight of the Year contender and a Knockout of the Year contender converged to make for an all-time classic fight, as Rodriguez won via knockout at 4:59 of the final round.”https://www.mmafighting.com/2018/11/11/18083992/ufc-denver-results-yair-rodriguez-scores-classic-knockout-of-korean-zombie-in-final-second?fbclid=IwAR0zL75AsUQAlDYCArlHiyB9FbJF3l1golCIbhOWaLBiYLPq96_b73g0YGQ

Interesting to see Cain reporting on Senegalese wrestling https://www.olympicchannel.com/en/original-series/detail/olympic-outposts/olympic-outposts-season-season-1/episodes/how-senegalese-wrestling-developed-into-a-mythical-mashup-of-styles/?fbclid=IwAR0tMsiDvAoXLx03dTUXmmIXseH469jkDdFBx906wfPNaygZXgwnjEZPRnI

Absolute classic, kind of 90s NHB meets the Magnificent Seven – the acting and sets may be wooden, but at least the Jiu Jitsu is authentic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiITsFQGJPU&fbclid=IwAR0UTExgtYoQwdeZwvqe0f2PCUSJkP958dP0WbGrMXnG5MK_JGHETNBVSVI